# pulvis
## Latin
### Etymology

Traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“flour, dust”), with accompanying comparanda given in the box below.
* Latin pollen
* Sanskrit पलाल (palāla)
* Ancient Greek πάλη (pálē, “dust, meal”)
* Albanian pluhur, Gheg Albanian pluhun (possibly)
* Lithuanian pelenai
* Russian пепел (pepel)
* Old Church Slavonic попелъ (popelŭ), пепелъ (pepelŭ)
However, de Vaan is skeptical and prefers a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₁- (“chaff”), comparing palea (“idem”); see there for more.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈpul.u̯is/, [ˈpʊɫ̪u̯ɪs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈpul.vis/, [ˈpulvis]

### Noun

pulvis m (genitive pulveris); third declension (sometimes feminine)
* dust, powder, ashes
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.655–656:‘mittite mē in Tiberim, Tiberīnīs vectus ut undīs lītus ad Īnachium pulvis inānis eam.’“Release [my body] into the Tiber [River], so that, carried by the waves of the Tiber, I may go as lifeless dust to the Inachian shore.”
** 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Genesis.3.19:pulvis es et in pulverem revertēris.Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (King James ver.)
* (figuratively) an arena, place of contest
* toil, effort, labor
    Synonyms: cōnātus, studium, opus, mōlīmen, opera, labor, cūra, intēnsiō, mōlēs

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### Derived terms

* pulverulentus
* pulvīnus
* pulvisia
* *pulvus

#### Descendants

See also pulvera.
* Balkan Romance:
** Aromanian: pulbiri, pulbire, pulviri, pulvire, pluburi
** Romanian: pulbere
* Dalmatian:
** pulvro
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: polve, polvere
    Central Italian: porvere, porvare, polvare
    Tuscan: polvere, porvare, polvare
** Neapolitan: polva, porva, povere
** Sassarese: piuvaru
** Sicilian: pùrbiri
* North Italian:
** Friulian: polvar
    pulvaro, puvoro (Dignano)
** Ladin: polver
** Lombard: polver
** Old Ligurian: pover
*** Ligurian: puvie
** Piedmontese: póer, póver
** Romansch: pulver
** Venetan: polvar, polvere
* Insular Romance:
** Sardinian: pruere, pruine (Logudorese), pruini (Campidanese)
* →? Albanian: pljúhur, bulbër
* → Middle English: pulver
** English: pulver
* → Proto-West Germanic: *pulver (see there for further descendants)
* → Welsh: pylor

### References

* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “pulvis, -eris”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 498
* ↑ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1985) “polvo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), volume IV (Me–Re), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 599

### Further reading

* “pulvis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “pulvis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* pulvis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* pulvis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 851: “la polvere” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
* Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “pŭlvis”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 9: Placabilis–Pyxis, page 570